In 1707 and 1709 Maria had two publications. One over the Aurora Borealis, Northern lights, and work titled the Von der Conjunction der Sonne des Saturni und der Venus, which translates to From the conjunction of the Sun of Saturn and Venus. A year later in 1710, Gottfried died, leaving Maria a widow at age 40. She then pleaded with the Royal Berlin Academy of Sciences to be allowed to continue he late husband’s research arguing that he had been sick for some time, and she had been the one doing all the work under his name. She had little supporters for this claim, and not granted approval. Her suspicions of being denied because she was a woman would prove true after Johann Heinrich Hoffmann was appointed to fill Gottfried’s role even though